Welcome to my blog, it is mostly about books, I host promo's for promotion companies, I do reviews and Interviews, and sometimes guests posts. I read many genres, but my favorites are Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, YA Fantasy, Historical Romances and Dystopian.

The Nations of Nälu welcomes you to the western region of Nälu. Home to the elves, two of the dwarf clans, and the humans. Most likely you came by ship, so we will start with the beautiful land of Zurial...

What is a visit to a new land without exploring some of the cuisine? I don’t know about you, but I LOVE food and discovering new favorites. If you’ve been by my Facebook page, you probably have guessed that. Ha! Well, here in Nälu we have quite a variety. Today we’ll just look at a few favorites...

In the course of edits, Secrets Kept lost the opening chapter where we catch a glimpse of the Sacred Pearl. Hopefully, I’ll be able to share that scene with you all one of these days. But later in the story, we learn that the Sacred Pearl was kidnapped during the attack on Dagmar, the headquarters of the Guardians.
But what is so special about the Pearl?

This book is amazing! It's a gorgeous fantasy with lots of action-packed scenes and spellbinding paranormal and fantasy elements. It's a quick read (I need more!!) and is a definite page turner. It's unique, original, and gorgeously written, perfectly for any lover of good, descriptive fantasy.

The defeat of Lord Stygian released the people, breaking the hold of the Tainted One, but she vowed to return. Who would stop her then? Who should rule the nations? What will become of the giants? Can they be trusted? The questions gave way to chaos, but Karasi, one of the lost rulers of Zohar, long imprisoned by the Tainted One and Stygian, brought peace again and established the first Guardian Circle. They were charged with guiding and teaching of the nations, so that history would never repeat itself, and the nations would never have to endure another oppressive rule such as Lord Stygian’s again...

"This is an intro to how JL Mbewe's stories aren't all peachy happy endings, necessarily, how she delivers an entire world, finished and beautiful, with minimal words. With one short story, she gained a fan-for-life with me. (I'm stubborn, too... you're stuck with me now, JL!!) I love this book!!"

On the northern edge of the Prathae Plains lies an ancient forest. Wisps of a grey mist ooze between bent and wrinkled trees. Silvery cobwebs sway loosely among their twisting limbs like tattered curtains of the dead. A force lingers at the edge of the forest like the foul stench of a beast.
It breathes of dark magic and death...

Mystery surrounds the corrupted dagger of Raemoja, of course, those who created it, wouldn’t call it that.
Only the dwarves know how to “corrupt” a blade, strengthening it against things not of this world, but the dwarves did not make this dagger.
The dagger is a tool, and we cannot talk about the tool without learning about the one who crafted it...

When Nälu was known as Talesri, there were only two dwarf clans. Klovan and Igazin, and they both spoke Tarôc...
During Stygian’s reign, the Klovan maintained a strong defense against the dwäza raids, but much of Stygian’s focus was on the Igazin...
[The Stozic's] capital city, Ta’vazi, is built right into the side of the mountain much like the ancient city of Petra in Jordan...

"I definitely found the title a perfect fit for the story. The MC, Ayianna, has had some secrets kept from her and then in turn must keep her own...
Overall, this was a good story. I really wanted to understand more about the prophecy and dagger and the role that Ayianna and her fellow companions will play, but I'll have to wait until the next book to learn more."

There are three distinct ethnic groups of elves in Nälu. The Esusamor, Saryhemor, and Wofsemor. They speak the common tongue of Nälu, their dialect of Zjótharyn, and most of the older generations are familiar with the ancient language of Táchil. Aside from the merfolk, they are the longest living beings in Nälu...

The feline shape-shifting race of Nälu: The Haruzo are split into two ethnic groups: The Plarzo in Bonzapur and the Rugazo in the mountainous region of Arashel...
Go to alwaysjoart to also listen to two songs representative of the music from Secrets Kept.

Across many watery miles and treacherous seas, is a land of mystery, great beauty, and wonder. Ragged mountains emerge from the depths and loom over lush, colorful gardens. Home to the glowing moonflower, healing waters, and dragons.
Here, you will find the Kaleki. The Sea-people. Otherwise known as the merfolk...

"Secrets Kept by J.L. Mbewe is a refreshingly brilliant and utterly sizzling beginning to an astounding epic adventure that emphasizes the innate desire in all of us to do what we fear the most – to truly live life to the fullest. I absolutely loved this story!"

"I really liked the story, over all. I found it engaging enough that there were not many slow spots in it , which is good cause I read most of it in one weekend so I could have the review up by today.There's also fantastical creatures galore!"

October 30th 2013 by AltWit PressWith a curse, she will build an army.With the dagger, she will undo the last sacrifice.But first the sorceress must find the secret keeper.Torn from her homeland and thrust into a betrothal against her wishes, Ayianna learns her family has a deadly secret that now has her on the run. She joins forces with Kael, an embittered half-elf, and Saeed, an elderly High Guardian, to seek answers to her father’s death, the destruction of Dagmar, and the plains people’s bizarre behavior.Ayianna discovers there is more at stake here than just her mother’s disappearance and her familial duty to her betrothed. The sorceress has cursed the plains people, and it is a race against time to release them before the sorceress resurrects an ancient evil.

Desert RoseA Tale of Nälu #1First short story published March 2013Set thirty some years before the opening scene of book one.Can a desert princess find love with a foreign king?Johari lives in the shadow of her beautiful sister until a foreign king notices her, but in her haste to prove herself worthy of affection she finds herself compromised and on a difficult journey to make things right.

Dragon ThiefA Tale of Nälu #2What if all you knew had been a lie?The teaching of the Guardians has guided Semine’s footsteps since her infancy. When her mentor shows up with information contrary to what she’s been taught, she doubts her decision to follow in their footsteps. She must decide if there is life beyond what she has always known or embrace a new, mysterious path and reject the Guardians’ legacy.

IndestructableA Tale of Nälu #3To what lengths would you go to the save the world?Elothryn keeps the darkest secret of Nälu: The cursed dagger of Raemoja. A weapon powerful enough to release the greatest evil from the underworld. For generations, his family has lived without incident until now. The hunters have his scent and will stop at nothing to reclaim the dagger. Elothryn and his son flee, seeking help, but will they find it?

NOW AVAILABLE: Tales of Nälu (all three short stories in paperback) on Amazon!

Living life balanced between reality and dreams.

Writing as J. L. Mbewe, Jennette is an author, artist, mother, wife, but not always in that order. Born and raised in Minnesota, she now braves the heat of Texas, but pines for the Northern Lights and the lakes of home every autumn. She loves trying to capture the abstract and make it concrete. She has two short stories published in The Clockwork Dragon anthology, and is busily creating worlds inhabited by all sorts of fantasy creatures and characters, all questing about and discovering true love amid lots of peril. Her debut novel Secrets Kept and her short stories set in the world of Nälu: Desert Rose, Dragon Thief, and Indestructible are now available. She is currently living her second childhood with a wonderful husband and two precious children who don’t seem to mind her eclectic collections of rocks, shells, and books, among other things.

For more information about her journey as a writer mama and all things creative please visit her at:

Trista Lennon is strong,
independent and only desires freedom. Freedom from the control of her
parents, freedom from the motorcycle gangs she has had to put up with
her whole life and freedom from a relationship that will trap her into
the very life she has no wish to ever live.

The day before she’s
supposed to leave for Stanford University to pursue her dreams, her
world is shattered. After a tragedy that tears her family apart, Trey,
her cousin, Talia, invites her to L.A. Her life is all the sudden
Hollywood stars and sunshine, late nights and wild parties.

And then she meets him.

Linx
Carter isn’t looking for a relationship. He survived a dysfunctional
marriage with his childhood sweetheart, which produced two sons, an
inability to trust women and a multitude of lies. He merely wants to
recuperate from a rough, six month tour Winter’s Regret just completed
with superstar band, Scarlet Fever, and enjoy a little peace and quiet.

Until he sees her.

Trista and Linx fight their attraction for one another like war on a battlefield.

She
has a closetful of secrets and he would rather be single and pathetic
than date a teenage girl who seems older than her years. However the
passion between them is too much to resist and they realize in order to
heal one another, they must destroy the walls they have constructed so
tightly around their hearts.

COVER TALK

I am a visual person and the reason why I
worked closely with my cover artist on this particular cover was because I
wanted to convey two different characters and worlds colliding.

The woodsy background is very symbolic and
important because the lead female character, Trista Lennon, grew up in the
small town of Pine Bluff, Nevada, which is controlled by the Demon’s Bastards
MC. Her oldest brother, Trey Lennon, is also a member of the outlaw Bastards
charter club.

Linx Carter, the lead male character, is a
bassist for Winter’s Regret, a very successful hard rock band, and the reason
why he doesn’t face the camera was symbolic and important too. He always wants
to go unnoticed even if he is covered by tats and fly underneath the radar.

The directness you see in Trista’s eyes is
very symbolic of her character too. She faces everything head first and
sometimes she speaks before she should but she is direct, very in your face and
not scared of much but having a brother who is an MC member, I think her character
act’s appropriate for what she has grown up around.

The cover is understated and very much
opposite of the novel, which starts like a slow burn and then everything
converges and the reader is taken on a wild ride they are not bound to forget
any time soon.

I don’t consider this a woman’s novel at all.
I think guys would definitely enjoy it too since the story is told from both of
their point of views, which are very different from one another.

Trista
Lennon-Carter received a phone call that will change her tranquil life
with her husband, rock star Linx Carter, in the blink of an eye. All she
knows is her brother, Trey, is either dead or being held against his
will in Northern Ireland and despite him being the Demon’s Bastards’
Sergeant-at-Arms, he needs her help.

In too far…

To save
Trey, Trista will have to take Linx back to the very place she grew up
and the same place she’s wanted to escape from her entire life. She will
also have to involve the very Motorcycle clubs she has no wish to deal
with ever again. When it is a life or death situation, she would do
anything to save the only family she has left.

In too deep…

The
club life has become ingrained in Trista like a tattoo and to save her
brother, she will be forced to become the person she most feared was a
part of her all along: a vengeful, fearless murderer who will stop at
nothing to save Trey. With her life and that of her husband’s at stake,
will she survive the nightmare their world has become, or will it drag
them back into the criminal cesspool she has finally managed to escape?

The
stunning conclusion to The Lovers Duet, Trista and Linx’s journey will
be one of strife, hardship and beyond the boundaries of anything they
have ever had to face before. Will they be able to endure or will the
past and their current present ruin their future happy ever after?

EXCERPT

“THIS IS BULLSHIT!” Trista
screamed.

She looked like a wild yet
untamed filly with sweat-soaked hair, crazed blue eyes and a crimson colored
complexion. She was beyond pissed and Linx didn’t have a clue how to calm her
down, especially since she was speaking to his Prez and there wasn’t much he
could say without getting a personal beat down of his own from his fellow
members.

“Listen to me, young lass,
because I will only take insubordination for so long before I rip you a new
asshole.” Dizzy stood and glared down at the young woman and Linx visibly
flinched.

He’d always hated the
feeling of being helpless and right now, there was fuck all he could do about
the present situation.

They’d accompanied Naomi to
the gun range and although Trista could hold her own with small caliber
weapons, she was useless when it came to the big guns. Uzis, Steyr AUGs and
AK-47s were not easily controlled and she fucked up royally, even after
instruction by Naomi. She wouldn’t be allowed to make the trip to Belfast.

“You will stay here where
you are safe. This is a dangerous operation.” Dizzy walked over and poured
himself a healthy glass of Macallan before he sat down at the head the table in
the chapel again. “Ronan, Quinn and Lennon will be in Belfast to do a messy
job. In and out…Trey is alive and we have to get him out of Northern Ireland as
soon as possible. You don’t need to be there if all you’re gonna be is dead
weight, lass. Sorry to be the one to break it to you.”

“But he’s my brother and I
want to see him. I want to be there when he’s rescued.” The tears streamed down
her face and although her shoulders slumped in defeat, there was a certain
defiance about her posture he knew she wasn’t ready to give up just yet, not
even if there was a slither of a chance she could go and help save her brother.

“The answer is still no and
it won’t change. You have got to stay here where we can keep you safe. The boys
leave tomorrow morning so it’s best if you just get drunk with the rest of
those eejits out there and fuck your man until he can’t get his pecker up again
because it’s the last bit of Irish injection you’re gonna be havin’ in youse
for a while.”

Linx grabbed Trista by the
shoulders and escorted her out of Dizzy’s office while she sobbed on his
shoulder.

“Baby, you know I’m gonna
bring Trey home for you so please don’t cry. That will get us nowhere and we
both know I’m on borrowed time as it is. I have two weeks to get this done and
almost one week has passed already.”

Trista’s shoulders heaved
before they collapsed and she wiped the tears away in complete and utter
gut-wrenching frustration with hands that clawed at her gorgeous face. “It
still doesn’t make a fuck all bit of difference. Dizzy tricked me—he fuckin’
played us, Linx. He had no intention of allowin’ me to go to Ireland with you
guys. He never wanted me involved in the first place because he’s a sexist
fuckin’ prick.”

Linx kissed the side of
Trista’s forehead and held her close, inhaling a mixture of vanilla and freesia.
“Yeah, he’s that too, but I can’t say I’m sorry you’re not goin’. I would be
worried about you the whole time and if I’m too busy thinkin’ about you, I
can’t do my job properly. There’s nothing wrong with you stayin’ here at the
clubhouse until I get back. You’re safer here than any other place, you feel
me?”

“Yeah, I’m feelin’ you all
right but first I need some chronic and a couple glasses of Macallan. Someone
has got to be holdin’ some grade-A shit around here and I’m not givin’ up till
I find it.”

“Follow me.” Linx grabbed
her hand and led her to a game room where a fifty-inch television was mounted
to the wall and several of the brothers from the club played Mine Craft while
other young couples necked, smoked and drank while chatting animatedly with one
another.

“Trista, Linx—over here!”
Naomi shouted as Ronan rolled his eyes. Quinn sat next to a gorgeous brunette
with creamy skin, wide steel blue eyes and small Irish features. They all
passed around joints and while the two women held bottles of Bud Ice, the guys
were taking shots from a bottle of Jack Daniels.

Cillian and Gisela entered
and took a seat cater-corner to them next to a couple that were all over each
other to the point where it might have been a good idea for them to get a room.

“Hey, you two—cut that shit
out. Some of us wanna keep our liquor down.” Cillian slapped the girl on her
arm and she finally separated from the man she was pawing.

Linx poured himself a shot
of Jack Daniels and took a shot while Naomi lit up a joint for Trista. He
looked up and recognized the young woman as Maeve “Misty” Cox, the only girl in
a family full of boys and the guy she was with as someone who shouldn’t have
been there.

Linx knew it was too late.
It was on and he could only hope he could keep her calm enough not to blow his
cover because one way or another, the man in question was going to get an
earful.

Naomi looked from Trista to
Linx and back again, her brown eyes wide with concern. “What’s the matter?”

“What the fuck is a Demon’s
Bastard doing in a Lucifer Saints clubhouse during lockdown?”

All the sudden, every pair
of eyes in their vicinity were on the two of them and Linx could only hope the
blowback his wife was about to cause wouldn’t be enough to do major damage the
night before he had to leave for Northern Ireland.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elle Chardou is a world traveler and author of several different series.

Ms.
Chardou is the author of The Ties That Bind Trilogy, The Atonement
Series, The Hart Family Saga, The Vamp Saga, The Supernaturals,
Undertow, and Beginnings: Book I (The Plague) series.

She is
currently working on A Summer to Remember from the brand new Seasons of
Love & Lust series, Only Love (The Atonement Series) and Queen of
the Immortals from The Vamp Saga series.

Ms. Chardou has lived
abroad in Stockholm (Sweden), Manchester (England), Los Angeles, the San
Francisco Bay Area and Portland. She currently resides in Las Vegas,
Nevada.

After months of watching her from the shadows, Lucretious, a millennia old vampire, finally makes his attack during a party thrown by his maker, Roman - a party where Roman proclaims his protection over LeKrista. Roman steps in and saves her life, but not before she deals Lucretious the true death in front of his lover, Perdita. Now LeKrista is running for her life and Roman is trying to save it, but she’s not sure if he really cares or if he has some underhanded reason for keeping her alive. She seeks help from Mages but they refuse to help her, even though she exhibits high potential as a Mage herself. In a last ditch effort, Roman whisks LeKrista away, but Perdita finds them. LeKrista must eliminate Perdita one way or another.

Book Info-Title- Sworn to RaiseSeries- Courtlight Series #1By- Terah EdunGenre- Young Adult, Fantasy, Coming of Age

Blurb-

Seventeen-year-old Ciardis has grown up in poverty, a cleaner in a small vale on the outskirts of the empire. But beneath her empire’s seemingly idyllic surface lies a hidden secret. Whispers of an inept crown Prince are growing ever louder—intensified by the five year anniversary of the soulbond initiations.

Amidst scandalous whispers, Ciardis finds herself chosen to train for the Companion’s Guild. She leaves her home and sets off on a personal journey to become a Court Companion. A position she’d never thought possible for a lowly servant to obtain, she must prove that she has the skills to attract a Patron.

But she must master those skills quickly. If the legends are true, only Ciardis can harness the power to raise a Prince in an Imperial Court sworn to bring him down.

This sensational series debut melds intricate storylines with remarkable characters and unforgettable magic. Sworn To Raise is ideal for fans of Kristin Cashore, Michelle Sagara, and Maria Snyder.

Eighteen-year-old companion trainee Ciardis Weathervane has won the friendship of the royal heir and saved his claim to the throne. Yet her interference in the inheritance rights leaves more harm done than good. The Ameles Forest lies unprotected and its inhabitants are dying.

As humans begin to die in gruesome deaths, the Emperor dispatches the royal heir to the forests with the solution to the kith concerns.

With enemies closing ranks in Sandrin, Ciardis can little afford to leave the city’s nest of vipers to take on a new task. But she’s given no choice when her loyalty to the crown and courts are called into question.

To keep the Companions’ Guild happy and the favor of the Imperial Court, Ciardis will be tested in frightening new ways, especially when she’s faced with an obstacle that could risk the lives of her friends and the family she never thought she had.

This second novel continues the story of Ciardis Weathervane from Sworn To Raise.

Ciardis Weathervane fought for the living dead and won. But worse than taking on a mass murderer, was her discovery that she had been deceived by her friends. Now she needs to not only fight a war in the North and survive, but also decide where she stands in the midst of competing sides.

A threat to all she holds dear lies in the North and her heart is not the only thing she might lose. A massive army awaits in the mountain pass, surging closer to the gates of the southern lands. Nothing the Algardis army has done so far has dissuaded their march forward and Ciardis finds out that her powers to enhance are needed now more than ever.

As she faces her greatest fears on the battlefields and her heart is torn between her love of Sebastian and loyalty to her family, Ciardis must choose her fate carefully. For in her path, lies the destiny of the empire.

This third novel continues the story of Ciardis Weathervane from Sworn To Transfer.

Terah Edun is a young adult fantasy writer born and raised in the Atlanta metropolitan area, who transplanted to the Northeast region for college, and has spent years living abroad in South Sudan and Morocco. She writes the stories that she always loved to read as a young girl.

My Review: December 2013 ~ Review Copies ~

First, I would like to thank the author Terah Edun for giving me this book for an honest review. I really enjoyed this fantasy book. The characters were pretty well developed, the world building was good. I can't wait to read the rest of this series.

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I am a mother of four children and grandmother of nine children. I live in Tennessee. I like to make friends from every where... I love to read and I spend a lot of time with my grandbabies. My children are Damien, Justin Dean (3/11/1986 - 5/26/2001), Kaleb & Kayla. My grandbabies are Damien:Adam, Azariah, Justin & Darien; Kaleb:Destiny, Dallas & Kalen; Kayla:Gavin & Leiland.